Rangely gaming team places 3rd in state

RANGELY | Last month the Rangely High School Gaming Team finished their season ranked third in the state among a growing field of competitors.
The Gaming Team, coached by school district IT Director Bo Bertoch, is in its third year of competition in Rangely and currently boasts 13 members, a big increase from the five members of the 2016 season.
Coach Bertoch emphasized the legitimacy of the sport saying, “E-sports are very underrated right now. Most do not want to see us as a sport, but we are no different than any other sport. We have regular practices, we have Varsity and JV teams with captains and assistants. We have plays and strategies that we practice and employ. It takes great teamwork and communication skills on all team members’ parts to work effectively together. It takes an ability to multitask and use extensive hand-eye coordination, and we have specific roles that each team member must know and fill. My team puts in countless hours not just practicing but studying positions, strategy and team make up. We are not just a bunch of geeks playing video games. This does, in reality, teach these kids how to effectively work together and accomplish tasks together even when they do not see eye-to-eye, which prepares them for life in the real world after graduation. Also E-sports have a lot of college scholarships opportunities from major universities, many of them full ride.”
The 13 team members each participate in any combination of the four available games, Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft II, Hearthstone or Overwatch. The competitions take place online with each team participating from their own school. The number of Varsity players varies from two to five depending on the game.
While this year’s competition season is over, the team will continue to meet and practice in the coming months as well as casually compete with other schools.